Green, frugal, sustainable, simple, healthy, happy... No matter what we each call it, we come together here to support and learn from each other.

We are preserving our planet with our lifestyles. We are creating sustainable communities for our children. We are living the lives we want to live. Please join us!

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All articles here are written by Melinda Briana Epler (that's me!) unless otherwise noted. I'm a documentary filmmaker, writer, and brand experience designer - I've dedicated my life to living a sustainable lifestyle and helping others do the same. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or thoughts for articles. Welcome!

It also reduces the distance it takes to go from the farm to you (10 feet, say, versus 250-2,500 miles). That means again you’re reducing your overall planet impact by decreasing the gas, packaging, fertilizers and pesticides used, and the CO2 output.

When you grow your own food, you also know where your food is coming from (no weird salmonella strains in your tomatoes and spinach, for instance).

It tastes many times better and has more vitamins and minerals than vegetables raised in a monocultural setting.

You can choose to grow various heirloom crops that you just can’t buy in a grocery store.

You can choose to grow crops that aren’t genetically modified.

You can save seed and create different varieties that are best suited for your little backyard microclimate.

And lastly, knowing how to grow your own food makes you much more adaptable to whatever economic or environmental hardship that comes your way in the future.

Plus, and it’s fun and it nourishes your soul!!

How To Grow?

First thing is first: join The Growing Challenge or it’s companion The Growing Challenge: From Seed To Seed! We’ve built a great community of food growers, all at different stages of our growing knowledge, all finding new and unique ways of growing food in our various locations around the world. Urban, suburban, rural, and everything in between – there is a grower pretty much everywhere! Please join the fun!!

Second, if you are a new gardener, don’t despair. There are loads of great resources to get you started. I’ve compiled a lot of tips, tricks, and resources in the Gardening 101 Series.

People should learn about and advocate for gardening education programs in their communities. CitySprouts, (www.citysprouts.org) based in Cambridge, MA started 8 years ago and now has teaching gardens in most of the city’s public schools and a summer intern program. it is unique in that the goal is to teach all teachers and community members how to integrate it into classroom learning and does not require “buying” a particular curriculum.

Only when students learn about growing food will they truly understand sustainable living. CitySprouts hopes to expand into other communities. The gardens are not very expensive, but towns and cities will someday fund environmental and health education the same way they fund other subjects, and for that continued advocacy is important.